It's the crocodile you don't see you have to worry about.

Crocodiles found on the Mowbray River, just south of Port Douglas in Queensland. Photographed with a DJI Mavic 3.

Free business idea: Instagram, but for photos.

Many think that "the elites" or "the media" are pushing an agenda. They're not, it's actually worse. They're just giving us what we want so they can sell it to us and become wealthier.

Heck, if I was them, I'd do it.

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz in Everybody Lies:

Many have viewed American journalism as controlled by rich people or corporations with the goal of influencing the masses, perhaps to push people toward their political views. Gentzkow and Shapiro’s paper suggests, however, that this is not the predominant motivation of owners. The owners of the American press, instead, are primarily giving the masses what they want so that owners can become even richer.

“When you hit a wrong note, it’s the next note that makes it good or bad.”

– Miles Davis

Brisbane on a Tuesday afternoon

It was a good month for me on Unsplash. Zero dollars made, but millions of feel-good bucks.

More Aussies - 18% - are going to be investing in crypto in the next 2yrs than real estate - 17% - so it's going to be a pretty good 2yrs for A Current Affair. In fact, I might invest in ACA, they're going to have some great li'l ozzy battler ripped-off stories.

Tugun Beach tonight

🌙

Another dose of inspiration for my family’s 2023:

Seneca:

“Everybody agrees that no one pursuit can be successfully followed hoping I by a man who is preoccupied with many things.”

Warren Buffett:

“The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say ‘no’ to almost everything.”

My 2023 goal in Mexico is to no longer know to do.

Wendell Berry:

“It may be that when we no longer know what to do we have come to our real work, and that when we no longer know which way to go we have come to our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.”

May god save any of you who find this book in your family homes

Scott Rosenberg in Axios:

"Mark last week as the end of the social networking era, which began with the rise of Friendster in 2003, shaped two decades of internet growth, and now closes with Facebook's rollout of a sweeping TikTok-like redesign."

Taylor Lorenz on why you don't want the old Instagram back:

"It's tempting to think that if Instagram simply reverted to a previous design or reinstated a chronological feed, that would somehow bring us closer to the people we care about. But we don't forge personal connections by sharing or commenting on highly personal public-facing photos that are permanently displayed on a grid anymore. These days, intimacy is fostered through features like DMs, group chats, or ephemeral posts to Close Friends."

A fancy hotel in Brisbane is trying to engage the Streisand effect by asking that these photos be removed from my Unsplash profile. It's funny that brands are still trying to discourage user-generated content in 2022.

I might not be TikTok cool, but I'm Grammarly cool

Paul Ford in Wired mag might be onto something

Where is trust growing?

It's often remarked upon that trust is dropping. Trust in government, science, corporations, media, journalists etc.

But where is it growing?

I feel seen, @gruber

Where the hell is she?

One of the key elements to parenting is knowing whether to say “wow” or “no, don’t do that” when your kid screams “Hey, dad!”

The co-founder of podcast host Anchor has written about his perceived issue with podcasting in the Standards Innovation Paradox, and James Cridland has responded that it hasn’t remained stagnant in its 19/21 years.

The most prominent issue I see in podcast standards today would be in forming a distinction between a serial show, an episodic show, or a one-off show, like a feature story or a documentary. Serials and episodic shows are covered already in the RSS, but I could see a type of audio story that is a single “episode” of either fiction like a feature film, or a single story like a documentary.

Coffee. Coffee is what’s at the end of the rainbow. There, I solved it all for you.

They’re showing off Wisk’s flying cars at King George Square in Brisbane today.

Craig Mod (devastatingly) on travel:

“The romantic ideal of travel is to leave as one version of yourself and return another, changed, ‘better’ version of yourself. This trip changed me, but not in the ways you might classically expect. I’ve returned suspicious of travel, more confused than ever about why so many people travel. Unsure if most travel of the last few decades makes sense, or has ever made sense or justified the cost. It feels like some consumerist, un-curious notion of travel was seeded long ago and, like a zombie fungus, has mind-controlled everyone to four specific canals in Venice. To a single painting at the Louvre. To three streets and a square in Manhattan. To a few rickety back alleys around Gion. An eminently photogenic set of torii in Kyoto.”

Monday morning from Main Beach, Surfers Parasise, and the Broadwater

Only 80s kids will know the answer:

1. CGA
2. EGA
3. TANDY
4. VGA

But …

The story behind "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain":

“Most foremen working at that time were chiefly hired for their musical abilities, as singing automatically lifted the spirits of the workers and made the whole process smoother”

#bringbacksingingforemen

Consider me sold on water filtration. Six months ago we got a complete home water filtration unit installed. I wasn’t against it, I just didn’t consider it necessary.

Today I replaced the filters for the first time.

See if you can pick which ones are the six-month-old filters.

I still believe this 10 years on

The one where Charlie Day beats up Ben Abraham. If I Didn’t Love You, the Music Video.

These Hubble vs Webb photos are amazing

Jim Rohn:

"You don't get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour."

Do banks call debit cards, credit cards, and credit cards, debit cards? Because if it's a credit card for me, it's a debit card for them. Right? We both can't call them credit cards, that's not how accounting works.

I swear I'm the only person who googles "New Amazon Kindle Oasis" every week waiting to see if I've missed the announcement I've been waiting for. The second I buy a new current generation Oasis will be the day they release a new one, I know it.

I'm fascinated by this idea: Vickrey auction as price discovery mechanism

"If you run a sale at $X, the most you can learn is that Y people were willing to buy there. Actually, not even that: If your entire inventory sells out, you learn only that at least that many people were willing to buy — you don’t learn how many would’ve bought your kit, had it been in stock."

Queensland woman sacked for not including an emoji in a text message:

Ms Wang stated repeatedly that the Applicant “didn’t add any smiley faces! There are no emotions!”

Tuesday sunrise from Tugun with Luna (and a visit to Highline Palm Beach for espresso afterward)

I’ve convinced Luna that Hall & Oates’ “Rich Girl” is actually “Big Girl” and that it’s about her. She now requests the song about her. I don’t know what I have done, but I’ve probably made a mistake.

I can only, and will only, eat hotdogs from this day on, after I have been introduced like this

This story about Disney - and Hollywood - in China is wild:

The other fascinating part about Disney’s strategy involves the string of English language schools that they opened in the country.

When they were building their theme park in Shanghai, they knew that a child won’t beg their parents to go to a theme park unless they love the characters that they’ll see there. Disney said, “Well, okay, we don’t have decades of movies to do this with.” And they were not allowed [by the Chinese government] to get a Disney Channel onto Chinese airwaves.

So what they decided to do was to launch a string of schools called Disney English, which would essentially teach young Chinese children English, but using Disney characters: Mickey wants an apple, or Luke Skywalker is 30 years old. I walked by one of these schools when I was there, and I remember that Toy Story 4 was coming out that week; all of the teachers were wearing Toy Story 4 T-shirts. So it doubled as a really effective marketing tool as well. Not only did these kids learn the English that their parents wanted them to speak, but they also left with an affection for these Disney characters that they had been introduced to.

Read more at Big Hollywood movies are being made with Chinese audiences in mind - Vox

James Clear:

"Many people are not ready for their lucky break when it comes to them.

Develop your skills. Study your craft. Save some money. Build a network before you need it. Lay the ground work.

The prepared person is positioned to benefit from unexpected opportunities."